Heather Huffman's Blog, page 20

So, that didn’t happen…

Remember when I said I’d fill the “Family” collage with pictures of my own family? My children found out my plans and protested. They like it the way it is. I’m just busy enough to be happy to oblige, so the collage is hanging once again with pictures of total strangers in it.

I tell myself it’s a commentary on life, that we’re all interconnected, even if we don’t realize it. That sounds so much better than, “I’m too busy and tired to drag out photo albums.”

 

Alpaca songs

No matter how much time you spend around an animal or how much you research it, they’ll always manage to surprise you once you live with them. In spending time with friends’ alpacas, I new they were a peaceful animal and a joy to be around, but I didn’t really have any idea just how much so.

Before our alpacas moved in, I’d heard a myriad of sounds from them. But now that they’re at ease and we’re their people, they’ve allowed us the privilege of hearing their song, and that’s something I wasn’t expecting.

There is a nearly constant chorus of hums that emanate from the alpaca pasture. They have one tenor when they’re grazing, another when their startled, and yet another when they see me approaching with breakfast or dinner.

Being surrounded by their contented chorus fills me with such peace. Sometimes, if the stress gets to be too much, I put the brakes on my day to go sit by their pasture so their alpaca song can wash away the tension. Maybe that’s why I put the bulk of my produce garden running along the outside of the alpaca pasture. It gives me an excuse to listen to their beautiful songs while I work!

 

Shower acrobatics

Last night, I took a shower while balancing on one foot so my other foot could keep the hot water knob from turning itself on full blast (because it does that now.) It also screams – loudly. I think the mandrake root screams on Harry Potter were actually inspired by my shower.

It’s the kind of thing that makes me wish I knew the first thing about plumbing. No, I take that back. It’s the kind of thing that makes me wish I had a plumbing genie to make it all go away for me because I have no desire to learn about plumbing.

I just want a quiet shower that doesn’t scald the skin off my back, but maybe that’s just a pipe dream.

Yeah, that’s right. I went there.

 

What a week

I think it’s safe to say that the typical week in my world is anything but typical. Still, last week definitely stands out from the others.

Tuesday we were incredibly blessed to celebrate Blake’s 10th birthday. We had his favorites for dinner and I took him to buy his first real bow and arrow set so he can practice since he’s on the archery team now. Monday and Tuesday, as I prepared for the big day, I couldn’t stop tearing up and telling everyone I knew that my son was turning 10. A milestone for any child, but after coming so close to losing him just before his 8th birthday, this one was especially cherished.

Chris, Dylan and Blake on Blake’s 10th birthday

Wednesday, I was privileged to be the speaker for the graduation ceremony at the Chillicothe Correctional Center, a women’s correctional facility in northern Missouri. I met so many wonderful people that day. It’s impossible to put into words how I felt by the time I drove home. One of the staff members said, “I left with my heart full.” That pretty  much sums it up for me, too. Only I’ll add that I was humbled by the teachers and other staff members at the facility. They were so kind and they all make such a difference in the lives of others every day. Spending time with them was a true inspiration.

I spent a lot of the week slipping and sliding in the rain, which seemed like it would never end. Just about the time I thought I’d lose my mind, the sun finally made an appearance. I put in fences, got the horses moved to the new place, and finally made some progress on my garden. On Sunday, the newest additions arrived on our farm – two of which were actually old friends.

Mina and Lani were the first alpacas we purchased, and the first animals to be given up after Blake’s accident. I think it was God’s hand that led them back to our door. I’m glad they’re here. Everything feels right now that they’re home.

Mina saying hi. She came right up to me once everything settled down. I think she remembers me, even though I’ve only seen her once in the past two years.

Lani, the littlest alpaca, saying hi to Gabriel, one of the goats.

Anywho, there are about a billion things I want to blog about. Hopefully I’ll get to at least a handful of them in the next couple of weeks. As the move winds down, I tell myself there’ll be time. We’ll see how that works out for me.

 

Three things I’ve learned from homesteading

I’ve spent a lot of time cursing homesteading resources under my breath lately. The Internet is a treasure trove of information for the first-time homesteader, but after a while, I’d begun to notice a trend in articles: the authors all have a lot more money and resources than I do. Whenever a fencing article starts off with, “my first step was to hire locals to put the fence in for me,” I know this writer and I are in totally different worlds. Have they seen the price of fencing? How on earth could they afford to hire even the neighbor kid after buying a couple thousand feet of that stuff?

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of really good information out there by some really resourceful people, but there’s also a lot of articles that seem to be written by hobby homesteaders with enough resources to glide gently into their new world. Such is not the case with my family. Sometimes I think we repel money like my car repels hubcaps.

At the moment, my pride and joy is my $20 alpaca shed. Made from mostly recycled materials and spare parts, it might not be pretty, but I don’t think the girls will mind as long as it keeps them dry. Although, if I’m being totally honest, I was a little nervous that my friend would show up to deliver alpacas and decide she wasn’t leaving her babies in such a hovel. Thankfully, that didn’t happen because we adore our lovely ladies. They seem to like their shelter, too. Granted, the first couple of days they were a bit nervous about going in it, so they’d sidle up to the side of the shed with their hay manger and use their long necks to reach in and grab a bite of hay before running off, only to come back and repeat the process. I guess they’ve decided the shed won’t eat them since they’ve stopped those particular antics.

The fence cost slightly more than $20, but even it was done with a bit of creativity to save cost. I’ll expand the fence as I go along, but at least they’ve got a big enough area to get us started. I put the terrible twosome in the alpaca enclosure for a week before the alpacas arrived to be sure they wouldn’t find a way to break out. (The terrible twosome being Shoeshine and Po, my Great Pyrenees/Welsh Corgi cross puppies.) The way I see it, if the fence can hold those beasties in, it’ll do the trick for the alpacas, too.

Now that I’ve been at this homesteading thing for a year, I’ve realized a few things were left out of the articles. So, if any of you are thinking of making the homesteading plunge, here’s my advice:

1)      It’s never as easy as they make it look. Life will throw you every conceivable curveball. When you get to the point where it’s either laugh or cry, choose to laugh. It’s more fun that way.

2)      The tool you need will always be the one you left back at the shop, on the other side of the fence. You won’t notice this until you’re on top of a ladder, leaning precariously over the roof of an animal shelter, feeling around for the tool in question. The sooner you accept this, the less frustrating the walk back to the shop will be.

3)      Animals have no sense of style. You can build a fancy nest box only for your chickens to decide they prefer the old burn barrel. Don’t worry so much about making it magazine pretty and go for functional. Besides, a good coat of paint can cover a multitude of sins.

 

 

Sending prayers

Like so many others, I’m saddened by the news coming out of Boston. As my heart goes out to those impacted, I can’t help but think of the countless people in countries where bombings are a regular occurrence.

So today, my prayers are with not only those in Boston, but the people all over the globe suffering at the hands of those who would instill terror. May God bless them and keep them, may He fill them with peace that transcends all understanding, and may He heal their bodies and soothe their troubled spirits.

 

They’re here!

The first alpacas arrived yesterday. We’re still getting used to each other, although they’re finally venturing out of their favorite corner, where they spend most of the first day staring at us like, “What the heck have we gotten ourselves into?”

Of course, now I’m suddenly terrified I’ll doink it up. I keep reminding myself I was like this the first time I had horses living with me instead of boarded and it’ll be okay.

Their names are White Lightning, Sunshine and Erica. White Lightning will need a nickname because that’s a mouthful. Erica might need a nickname, too, because I’m not sure how my editor will feel about having an alpaca named after her…

White Lightning is a huacaya. Sunshine and Erica are suris. Sometime in the near future, I’ll put together a post on the differences between the two. I can’t wait to work with their lovely fiber!

Silly goat

Why it’s not a good idea to leave your car door open at my house…

Don’t tell on me…

So, any of you who have children know how much importance the school places on MAP testing. They start sending out memos weeks, even months, in advance to remind parents that kids need eight to nine hours of sleep and a good breakfast on testing days. They remind us not to schedule doctors appointments the week of the tests. They call us the week before to remind us again to have our kids in school and well rested.

Yesterday, some friends popped by for a visit that wound up lasting until 9 p.m. We adore these friends and their children and they live over an hour away, so yeah, we let the kids stay up.

This morning, my sister called needing an ear. She’s the kind of person who gives and gives, so on the rare occasion she actually lets you know she needs something, you give it. How could you not? So my kids had chocolate chip cookies for breakfast because I was on the phone with my sister.

And… today is the first day of MAP testing. So my sleepy kids rolled in to school full of sugar and no nutrition to take these all-important tests. Yeah, I know, I’m Mother-of-the-Year.

Sigh.

 

Blog Hop!

I love it when I get an email from someone who wants to join the fight against human trafficking. When Corina at Pink Fluffy Hearts reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in co-hosting a blog hop to raise money for Project Liberty, I jumped at the idea (Even though, in truth, I have no clue how blog hops work. Still, I’m game to give it a whirl!)

Bloggers can sign up to be part of the hop now through April 25, 2013. The hop will run May 1 – 22, 2013. To learn more, stop by Pink Fluffy Hearts today!